10 Tips on How to Reduce Mobile Phone Radiation: Part 1

If you read our article on SAR, you might have felt a little bit worried or afraid. You might have wondered what your life would be like without any technology. The sad reality is that these days living without technology seems almost impossible for us but if you decide to try, you’ll find some tips on how to use smartphones mindfully and with some benefit to your health.

1. Turn on aeroplane mode when your child is using your smartphone to play offline games. Children’s skulls are less dense and their brains are smaller, which means that they absorb more radiation[1].

2. Use a headset when talking on the phone to keep it as far from the body as possible. Headsets have less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic emission of a normal mobile[2].

3. Don’t affect the health of people surrounding you. Avoid talking on the phone in public places, like a bus or the underground where you can passively expose others to your smartphone’s radiation.

4. Don’t keep your mobile phone near your body all the time. Don’t sleep with your phone under the pillow or beside you on the bedside table, try a mobile-free bedroom! If you really have to keep your phone handy at night (because this is your only alarm clock, for example) put it in aeroplane mode, this prevents electromagnetic radiation[3].

5. Text instead of making a call whenever it’s possible.

6. Use a landline phone (yes, they still exist) when you need to hold a long conversation. Health effects of radiation are directly related to the duration of exposure, in this case, the duration of a phone call[4].

7. Don’t put the phone near your ear until your interlocutor picks up.This limits the power of the electromagnetic radiation emitted to your body. Switch sides regularly to balance the exposure.

8. Try not to use your smartphone when the signal is weak or when moving at high speed (in a car or a train). This automatically increases radiation power to the maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna. Be mindful of it especially when you’re in a car or an elevator, which are like a metal box that shields you from the phone coverage.

9. Choose a smartphone with the lowest SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) possible. You can read about it here.

10. Check the placement of the antenna on your phone. It is usually in the upper part. If that’s the case of your phone, try to hold it by the lower part. If the antenna is placed somewhere else, try to grab the phone by the part that is far from the source of radiation.

As you can see, even small changes may turn out to be beneficial for your health. Following some of the above tips is no big deal, trust us. In the next articles, we’re going to explore this subject more broadly. You’ll also have the chance to learn about our “online challenges”.